Posted on 10/12/2002 5:15:04 AM PDT by Libloather
Dutch Bank Shuns Probe of Enron
Fri Oct 11, 5:04 PM ET
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Rabobank has refused to hand over internal documents to a New York court that could provide insight into deals related to the collapsed energy trading giant Enron Corp., a spokesman for the Dutch bank said Friday.
Rabobank has documents relating to loans granted to Enron, which it allegedly booked as sales. Rabobank holds these documents because it took over an Enron loan of $517 million, previously held by Royal Bank of Canada.
Rabobank spokesman Roel van Veghel said the bank won't hand over documents requested by investigators in the Enron case unless their confidentiality is guaranteed.
The unlisted Dutch bank is worried the documents, which the New York court had ordered released by Oct. 9, could hurt its case in its dispute with Royal Bank of Canada over the transaction.
A court-appointed investigator of Enron deals is investigating six transactions carried out by Enron through a web of special-purpose entities.
Rabobank has information about Enron's 1999 spinoff of EOG Resources Inc., a transaction that was kept off the collapsed company's books. Rabobank ended up taking over a loan from Royal Bank of Canada used to finance the deal and is claiming damages from the Canadian bank for allegedly being misled.
NEW YORK (AP) - A bank that lost more than $80 million by investing with Enron Corp. sued a host of investment banks Friday, charging that they must have known Enron's finances were fatally flawed when the deal was made.
Abbey National Treasury Services, part of British bank Abbey National, filed suit in Manhattan federal court over its disastrous purchase of Enron-issued Marlin Water notes just months before the energy company collapsed into bankruptcy.
The lawsuit charges that the investment banks, including Credit Suisse First Boston, J.P. Morgan Chase, CIBC and Bank of America, must have known about Enron's troubled finances but failed to tell Abbey National.
"The defendants intentionally or recklessly omitted to disclose these material facts known to them as a result of their due diligence work associated with underwriting or auditing Enron," the suit charges.
Enron defaulted on the Marlin Water notes when the company filed for bankruptcy last year.
"As a result of defendants' fraudulent misrepresentations, Abbey National lost virtually its entire investment in the Marlin II Notes," the suit says.
Representatives for J.P. Morgan Chase and CSFB said they would not comment because their companies had not yet seen the lawsuit. CIBC and Bank of America did not immediately return calls for comment.
The Dutch have always engaged in "trade" on the very fringes of morality and made a hefty profit - time never changes here and if you want to do something, otherwise suspect throughout the world circles involving trade, finance or PROFIT, you can find a way to get it done.
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